Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

Think you know your Muggles from your Mudbloods? Or your Reparo from your Expelliarmus? Electronic Arts once again offer you the chance to prove your wizarding worth as they open up the world of spells, Quidditch and He Who Must Not Be Named in the latest instalment of J.K Rowling’s magical masterpiece: Harry Potter And the Half Blood Prince.

Year 6 at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and yet again Harry and Co are set for another year of mystery and deadly mayhem in the fight against The Dark Lord Voldermort and his legion of corrupt followers. As with previous titles from the series, players will take control of the wizarding community’s most famous inhabitant, Harry Potter, as the game progresses through the story of the similarly titled book and soon to be released feature film. Having 5 Potter games under their belt already, EA have become rather good at capturing the infamous world behind the novels, and with so many brutally loyal followers around the globe you have to give them some credit in taking on the challenge to please the army of Potter obsessives. However, having played previous titles and the excellent book narrative aside, there is always a concern of how each game will offer something new and fresh to keep old fans pleased and new potential players interested also.

Having recently taken the demo for a flying joy ride around The Burrow via an Xbox 360, I was anxious to see how the game would transfer to the Nintendo Wii given its three dimensional control system. The answer? Beautifully! Being a huge fan of the series, taking part in activities such as potion making, duelling or catching the Snitch in a round of Quidditch was far more enjoyable with the use of a Wii Remote and Nunchuck than a regular games console controller. Casting spells is done through various waves of the control sticks, and although this will undoubtedly be popular with younger fans of the series, the challenges themselves aren’t always as easy as you would expect, which I give EA credit for!

A fairly high degree of accuracy and attention are required to complete many of the wizarding themed tasks. While attempting to create a Shrinking Solution, I found myself getting rather irate with a selection of rats spleens and leech juice, in an attempt to both levitate, pour, heat and stir my ingredients against the time limit; and for the sake of my Gryffindor loving reputation I will argue that some may find it more difficult than a walk down Diagon Alley.

The legendary broomstick wielding game of Quidditch is brought to life through a pitch of star shaped targets, through which you must guide Harry as he flies. Add in some bludgers, quaffles and a rival seeker and you have yourself a nice little flying party! However, alongside the Duelling and Potions Club, many of the Quidditch games take place outside of the main action, allowing anyone wishing to follow the story for a quick finish alone to no longer be sidetracked with some sub-missions; the game as always includes unavoidable ones!

The time consuming collectable tasks are still available, this time in the form of the Hogwarts Crests scattered around the school grounds. Mini Crests can also be ‘depulsoed’ (or ‘pulled’ for you Muggles out there) from environmental objects which when collected form a larger crest towards your total. On the subject of actors I think its worth a mention that the facial captures of the Harry Potter cast are by far the best to date. Unfortunately the vocal talents of major actors like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson (more famously known and Harry and Hermione) are missing from the game, although many of the other students are voiced by their real life counterparts and it’s but a small fleck on the game as a whole. Unlike previous titles, mini games such as Gobstones, Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess are absent from this release, which is disappointing for people such as myself who enjoyed playing games that are so vividly described in the books.

However their absence has paved way for far more of the storyline to come through compared to the previous game, Order of the Phoenix, which was disappointingly short on action albeit damn right enjoyable regardless of its lack of plot! I’m not going to spend a large amount of time justifying or criticising the storyline featured in game; chances are if you’re playing the title in any way, shape or form you will already be more than familiar with the ins and outs of Hocruxes, the relevance of Professor Slughorn or Dumbledore’s Pensieve as this is obviously a game released for fans for the franchise. But, and this is a big one, regardless of your ability to follow the plot this game offers bucketfuls of enjoyable play time for those fond of small quests over big action busting adventure.